• Contact
  • Return to IBSA
  • Advertise Through Us
  • Subscribe
  • E-Reader

IBSA News

Illinois Baptist State Newspaper

  • QuickLinks
    • E-Reader
    • Subscribe
    • Baptist Press
    • Resource Magazine
  • News
    • Corona Virus
    • IBSA
    • SBC
    • Culture
    • Religious Liberty
  • Mission
    • Illinois Churches
    • Church Planting
    • Missions
    • Evangelism
  • In Focus
    • Longform Articles
  • Columns
    • Nate Adams
    • Eric Reed
    • Meredith Flynn
  • Leaders
    • Pat’s Playbook
    • Fresh Ideas
    • iLead
    • Devotional
Photo by Adam Covington

More than 8,100 messengers to the 2022 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting June 14 raise ballots to vote on various resolutions during the two-day meeting at the Anaheim Convention Center. Messengers receive the paper ballots when they register at the meeting. Photo by Adam Covington

What is clear and unclear after Anaheim

June 16, 2022 By Ben Jones

Clear: Despite loud voices on social media and at the floor microphones voicing opposition to the Sexual Abuse Task Force recommendations and to the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, urging messengers to “change the direction,” there is a quiet majority in the SBC. If the messengers at Anaheim are a representation of the people in the pews, then there is broad support for the direction the SBC is headed in new leadership, how it handles sexual abuse within the church, and how it attempts to engage a culture with increasingly unbiblical views on sexual ethic and the unborn.

Tuesday’s vote that overwhelmingly affirmed the SATF recommendations gave evidence of that quiet majority. Prominent sexual abuse survivors stood outside the convention center on Tuesday morning offering small green ribbons of support for survivors to passersby. Many politely declined, but the vote inside showed 90% or better support.

Even a vote to eliminate the ERLC, which has a much more complicated standing in the minds of messengers, failed easily. Despite concerns and disagreements, the SBC is nowhere near ready for such drastic measures.

Unclear: Other votes were less one-sided, indicating questions of unity moving forward. 38% of the messengers voted for Tom Ascol, the candidate backed by the Conservative Baptist Network, a group that has vocally disagreed with the direction of the SBC for the past two years.

While a 61/38 split in an election would normally be considered a landslide win, this vote was not just about personality, which has often been the case in recent SBC presidential elections. These two candidates held very different views for how best to address some of the larger issues the SBC is presently facing.

In a convention that is deeply committed to the commands of Christ, Jesus’ words on unity can’t be ignored:“By this everyone will know you are my disciples, by your love for one another.” “That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.”

There are real questions and real concerns to work out. If there is to be enough goodwill and unity to continue, the IMB may play a key role.

In IMB’s report to the SBC annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif., June 14, 2022, IMB president Paul Chitwood shares good news of salvations, baptisms and new churches made possible through the generosity of Southern Baptists. Photo by Kathleen Sparks

In IMB’s report to the SBC annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif., June 14, 2022, IMB president Paul Chitwood shares good news of salvations, baptisms and new churches made possible through the generosity of Southern Baptists. Photo by Kathleen Sparks

The SBC loves the IMB. Year after year, messengers and guests at the convention are reminded of the primary reason some 50,000 churches fellowship and give together—to send missionaries to the ends of the earth. Seeing 52 new missionaries crossing the platform at the IMB commissioning service on the first morning of the convention, telling why they are going to serve, is the core of what keeps the SBC together.

IMB President Paul Chitwood passionately said as much from the platform on Tuesday. And Chitwood may himself, play a key role in preserving and furthing our unity. The affable former pastor and Kentucky Baptist state executive is generally soft spoken, with a southern drawl. He is well liked, well spoken, and well poised to be a uniter in the Southern Baptist Convention. As an articulator of unity around missions, Chitwood could play a key role helping Southern Baptists to come together in the great cause of global missions even as they work out their differences.

Chitwood’s call for togetherness for the purpose of missions was very clear.

Ben Jones reported from Anaheim, California.

Share This Story

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Coronavirus

  • News
  • Church Helps

Sexual Abuse Prevention & Ministry

Resources

  • Protect your children, protect your church
  • Caring Well
  • Related Stories

Featured Columns

Nate Adams

Lamenting and learning

Nate Adams

In the period between release of the third-party investigation of the SBC Executive Committee’s handling of sexual abuse claims in the denomination and the SBC Annual Meeting where messengers acted on recommendations for reform, several things became clear. Everyone has an opinion on the report and its findings. Not everyone who has commented has read […]

Meredith Flynn

Fuel for the second half

Meredith Flynn

For the first time since we became parents, we navigated Easter morning without tears. There was no fussing over pinchy shoes. Our pre-church Easter basket treats caused no sugar crashes. Porch pictures were taken with gladness. All was well. Fifteen minutes later, it began. “I need a drink of water,” my daughter whispered to me […]

Discussing abortion with your pro-choice friends

Lisa Misner

Abortion is a difficult subject to discuss with a friend or family member who is pro-choice, when as a pro-life Christian you perceive that choice as ending the life of another. Here are a few strategies for having a productive conversation: Pray. Ask God to give you wisdom as you speak. Jesus said we are […]

More Columns

Lamenting and learning

Nate Adams

In the period between release of the third-party investigation of the SBC Executive Committee’s handling of sexual abuse claims in the denomination and the SBC Annual Meeting where messengers acted on recommendations for reform, several things became clear. Everyone has an opinion on the report and its findings. Not everyone who has commented has read […]

News

Illinois Welcome Sign

How pro-choice is Illinois?

Lisa Misner

While Illinois Baptists celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, they were quickly reminded of the challenges ahead to making Illinois a pro-life state when Governor JB Pritzker announced plans to call the Illinois General Assembly back into session to “further enshrine our commitment to reproductive health rights.” In a press […]

Medical ministry is part of global engagement for Metropolis church

Abortion by the numbers

More News Stories

Mission

Annie Armstrong

How SBC missions have been influenced by Annie Armstrong

Sandy Wisdom-Martin

A few years ago, I read the SBC president at the time was considering different gavels for presiding at the SBC Annual Meeting. One of the options under consideration was the Armstrong gavel. I sent him an email with this message: This weekend I did a bit of reading on Annie Armstrong and was inspired […]

On mission again

New partnership targets biblical literacy

More Mission Stories

  • Blog
  • News
  • Mission
  • In Focus
  • Columns
  • Leaders

Copyright © 2022 · Website by Megaphone Designs